By the time a race gets to it’s 35th running, you know it’s a top notch event and such is the case with the Vail Hill Climb, the eight race in this year’s La Sportiva Mountain Cup. The field was befitting this storied race. Not only were many Mountain Cup regulars there, but so were Anita Ortiz, Simon Gutierrez, Ricky Gates, and many others who charged up 2,500′ of Vail Mountain over the course of 7.5 miles.

The RaceMen’s Race
After a wrong turn cost him a win a few weeks ago at the Jemez Half Marathon, Jared Scott redeemed himself by being the first up Vail Mountain. Matt Byrne and Peter Maksimow battled it out for second place, but with Maksimow was able to hold on to his slight lead after mile 7 across the finish line.

Men’s Top Three (sorry, after the top three finishers, race results are listed by age group only)

Jared Scott – 50:32

Peter Maksimow – 51:43

Matt Byrne – 52:06

Women’s RaceRachel Cueller from Albuquerque, New Mexico took top spot for the ladies with women’s Mountain Cup leader Megan Kimmel close behind. Cynthia Arnold finished a little over two minutes behind Megan to secure third place.

Women’s Top Three (sorry, after the top three finishers, race results are listed by age group only)

La Sportiva Mountain Cup StandingsWomenOn the women’s side, Megan Kimmel will be this year’s La Sportiva Mountain Cup champ. Going into Vail, she had a huge lead and she added 21 series points by finishing second and ahead of a few series competitors. The only other major change is Cynthia Arnold pulling into a tie for fifth with Alison Bryant. It’s worth noting that with only two races left, just one point separates second (Rachel Cieslewicz) from third (Ashley Arnold) and then another one point separates fourth (Annette Bednosky) from the two ladies tied for fifth. That means there’s plenty of racing left among the women!

Rankings through Vail Hill Climb

1. Megan Kimmel – 112 points (5 races – 21 pts from Vail)

2. Rachel Cieslewicz – 58 pts (4 races – Did not race Vail)

3. Ashley Arnold – 57 pts (3 races – Did not race Vail)

4. Annette Bednosky – 46 pts (3 scoring races – No pts from Vail)

T-5. Alison Bryant – 45 pts (3 races – Did not race Vail)

T-5. Cynthia Arnold – 45 pts (3 races – 17 pts from Vail)

MenThere’s also lots of racing left among the men. By winning at Vail, Jared Scott added 20 points, plus six more bonus points by beating Matt Byrne, Bernie Boettcher, and Ryan Woods. Ryan Woods did pick up 13 points to hold onto the lead, but Scott is now more or less even with Woods when you keep in mind Scott has run one less race than Woods. That assumes, of course, the Scott will run two more races and Woods will run one more. Matt Byrne jumped up into fourth with a 19 point day and he’s now in striking distance of higher places, as well. All in all, things just got VERY interesting in the men’s Mountain Cup standings with only two races to go.

We’re going away from the tradition of awarding the most course appropriate La Sportiva’s for this race. Instead, we’re giving away a pair of La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0s. Why? Because iRunFar editor Bryon Powell just wore them for the first 20 miles of the Western States 100 and they were so awesome he felt like he was cheating.

If you’d like to win and try out the La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0 yourself? Simply leave your name and town (in the US or Canada) in a comment before we write about the next Mountain Cup race, the La Sportiva Table Rock race on July 23rd. As a reminder, if you enter to win the Crosslite 2.0 you’ll also automatically be eligible to win the grand prize at the end of August. Read up on the iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup giveaway grand prize.

Call for Comments
If you’ve ever run the Vail Hill Climb, please leave a comment letting everyone know what you think about the event.

A broken collar bone has kept me off the trails the past weeks, but I've survived reading and following all the race coverage on irunfar . . . and I'd love to rock some new shoes in the late summer races and long train runs.